


One Small Step

by DavidtheWriter (DavidtheTraveler)



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Day 4: Moon, Fantastic Racism, Giant/Tiny Content, HiddenDreamer67's October Giant/Tiny Prompts, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-13
Updated: 2019-10-13
Packaged: 2020-12-14 03:44:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21009188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DavidtheTraveler/pseuds/DavidtheWriter
Summary: Four students present a report on the moon landing and its importance in human history as a celebration of human cooperation to their class.  But the presentation also spurs them to consider the ongoing bigotry in their integrated world of humans and tinies.





	One Small Step

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Panic_at_the_everywhere](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Panic_at_the_everywhere/gifts).

With a muffled hiss, the hatch of the capsule opened. For a moment, nothing happened. Then a figure in a suit, bulky and white, began to awkwardly make its way out. Slowly, it maneuvered its laden form through the opening and onto the ladder to begin its descent.

Carefully, it made its way down the ladder, pausing only twice in its otherwise slow yet deliberate movements. Once, to remove the covering of the plaque set into the ladder, meant to be left behind to commemorate this moment. And once more, just before finally stepping down onto the dusty surface.

“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

The astronaut slowly lowered himself all the way down onto the surface, turning to begin exploring the surface of this distant sphere as the narration continued overhead.

“Though many have continued to debate this quote, both in its heard and scripted versions, the truth of its message is without question: that this achievement, only made possible by the collaboration and cooperation of people of all walks of life, was a celebration of humanity at its greatest. For with this single act, we proved that nothing could be beyond our reach, so long as we worked together for the betterment of all.

“And while it may have been the first, we truly hope that will not be our species’ last great first.”

Logan concluded his narration, closing the binder with the speech as he did so. There was a pause, and then the classroom erupted in exuberant cheers. As they continued to applaud, Patton came up between Logan and the desk, just as Virgil stepped out from behind the diorama to join Roman, who had since removed his helmet. The four boys, two normal sized humans, and two tiny humanoids, bowed to their classmates as the teacher came forward, clapping his own hands in appreciation.

“Well done, boys,” Dr. Picani announced, continuing to applaud. “A truly well planned and excellently designed presentation. I know I still need to do a final scoring for your grade, but I don’t think any of us doubt that you will have earned a most excellent mark for this assignment.”

The four boys exchanged proud smiles, Patton going so far as to wrap Logan in a hug as Roman side armed Virgil and kissed his forehead, much to the smaller boy’s good-humored frustration. Finally, they settled down enough to head back to their desks, Logan carrying the diorama and Patton following with their two tiny project partners held on his open palm.

“Now, considering how much time we have left in class, I believe we’ll stop there and pick up with the presentations tomorrow. Feel free to talk amongst yourselves until the bell rings.” With that, Dr. Picani returned to his desk to begin grading the written reports for that day’s batch of presentations, and the students all began to chat loudly as they packed up their bags for the final bell to release them to go home.

“You did so good on that, Lo-lo,” Patton squealed, giving his boyfriend another hug after setting Virgil and Roman down on the double desk the four of them shared.

Logan rolled his eyes at Patton’s embrace, but the blush on his cheeks betrayed how much he was actually enjoying it. “Perhaps, but had you not helped me by providing some of the more...emotional phrasings, I do not feel my report would have had the same impact on our audience as it did. And that’s not even mentioning the most exceptional work you did on the diorama.”

“Well, I had a little help on that from Virgil. He really has quite the eye for detail. I mean, just look at the amazing job he did with the space suit.”

Now it was Virgil’s turn to blush. “It wasn’t anything special. And it wouldn’t have mattered if we didn’t have the best actor in the school to play our astronaut.”

“What can I say? I was inspired by your excellent design sense, My Chemically Imbalanced Romance.” Roman bowed toward Virgil with a flourish, causing the other boy to snort and shake his head. But the coy smiles the two were exchanging betrayed the real love behind the banter.

“In any case,” Logan injected, “I would be truly surprised if we failed to receive at least an A on this project. And now that it is complete, we can focus on other matters.”

“Like what we’re doing this weekend!” Patton exclaimed. “We are still on to go see the new _Spider-Man_ movie, right?”

“As long as we’re going to the theater on Main Street,” Roman pointed out, working himself out of the suit with a little help from Virgil. “On our last date night, Virgil and I went to one on Beta Avenue, and their tiny section was an absolute nightmare. Bad sound, horrible view, and the snacks were stale at best.”

“I told you we shouldn’t have gone to an older theater,” Virgil chided him. “It’s obvious they had to retrofit that section in, and they only did the minimum needed to comply with the anti-discrimination laws.”

“Why didn’t you report the situation to the management?” Logan asked.

“We did. The owner didn’t even bother to try sounding sincere when he apologized for the conditions. Stupid bigoted baby boomer.”

The thought of the generation that had fully embraced the idea of the “Pet Tiny”, to the detriment of the entire tiny race, spurred the group into silence as they packed up their supplies.

Soon enough, the bell rang to dismiss them for the day. Around them, their classmates made their way out, with the humans heading for the door and the tinies boarding the in-school tram to head to their special locker area. But Roman and Virgil made no attempt to catch the tram. Instead, they each clambered onto one of their deskmate’s hands. And with that, the four of them headed out.

With the buzz of excitement at the end of another school day, even if it was still just Thursday, Patton and Logan had a hard time keeping their hands steady enough for their companions to ride smoothly. But they managed to keep them secure as they waded through the crowds of students clogging the hallways. And soon enough, they were out the front door and heading for the parking lot.

Just before they reached Logan’s car, they heard someone calling for them from behind. The pair turned, and the four of them waved and called out to their friend Thomas as he rushed to catch up, his hands full with his own pair of tiny friends.

“Hey, did the presentation go well?” he panted, trying to catch his breath.

“Indeed,” Logan replied. “I believe it went over quite well.”

“We were fantastic,” Roman added. “Especially me.”

“Yeah, keep telling yourself that,” Virgil quipped, smirking at Roman’s indignant reaction.

“I just wish you could have seen it,” Patton pouted. “It’s too bad you couldn’t have had the same history class with us this year.”

“Yeah, but you know they only give AP Chemistry first period, which means if I’m going to be in Theatre, my only other option’s last period.”

“Which makes so much sense,” muttered the beanie-wearing tiny in Thomas’ right hand.

“They do have a point,” the other tiny with the multicolored hair in his other hand added on.

“Well, at least you three are still together for that class,” Roman conceded. “Virgil and I are really missing you in first period.”

“Yeah, the other techies have nothing on you two,” Virgil commented, causing Joan and Talyn to blush at the compliment.

“Well, we’ve got to get going,” Thomas interjected. “We’ve still got to finish our own presentation on the Million Tiny March.”

“You’re not finished?” Logan queried, eyebrows quirked in obvious exasperation. Thomas shrugged in embarrassment as Joan cackled and Talyn frowned over at their datemate.

Logan rubbed his eyes in frustration, but before he could start lecturing them about proper time management, Thomas suddenly blurted out, “Well, gotta go, great to see you all, see you tomorrow!” And quick as a flash, he and his partners escaped to his car and were gone.

“Relax, Lo-lo,” Patton cooed, rubbing Logan’s back to calm him down. “You know they’ll get it done in time. They always do.”

Logan sighed, but nodded in resignation at Patton’s words and turned to unlock his car. Once inside, Logan and Patton placed Virgil and Roman down on the dashboard next to the tiny seats Logan had had installed for them. And with the four securely buckled in, they set off for home.

As they passed through the various separated and integrated neighborhoods. The four couldn’t help thinking about the implications of their project’s message, especially in regards to their own personal experiences with prejudice and bigotry. Thomas’ mentioning of the March had reminded them of their struggles. Logan and Patton’s relationship hadn’t exactly been seen as a very positive thing when they’d come out to their parents, though the two couples had eventually come around. And there had certainly been a few bullies who tried to drum up homophobia around the two, though to very little success.

But that was nothing compared to Roman and Virgil’s own experiences. The Equal Rights for Tinies movement had only barely succeeded in getting its Equal Rights Act passed before the two of them were born. Virgil had almost been born in captivity in the testing lab with his mother, his father having been killed months earlier at the National Mall Riots. Roman’s own parents had only been free because their owners had been swayed to support the movement, and they had been released into a tiny relocation program.

But even now, almost two decades after the passage of the act, there was still so much bigotry toward tinies. So many older people still saw them as lesser beings, and even those who accepted them into society still treated them as second class citizens. It was just not fair.

“Do you think they’ll ever really accept us as equals?”

Roman’s question caught them all off guard, especially Roman, who hadn’t realized he’d spoken aloud at first. There was an awkward silence as he and Virgil exchanged worried, tired looks, and Patton opened and closed his mouth a few times, trying to think of something to say. Finally, Logan spoke up.

“I think they will.”

The other three turned to him. He wasn’t smiling, but his neutral expression seemed to radiate a determined confidence in what he was saying.

“I believe that they will accept you as equals. Perhaps not the older generations, though there are many examples of those who have embraced the idea of Equality. But I believe that we the younger generations have. And even if they might be in power now, they are inexorably the past, and we are the future. And as far as I am concerned, that future looks pretty bright.”

Patton beamed at his boyfriend, and reached over to hold his hand, which Logan reciprocated with a small smile. Roman and Virgil smiled at him before turning to each other to share a hopeful kiss.

“Thanks for that, Logan,” Roman called back after breaking the kiss, still staring lovingly into Virgil’s eyes as the other stared back.

Logan nodded in reply as the cabin lapsed back into silence. But this time, it wasn’t brooding or tense, but filled with a hope for the future that no amount of bigotry could extinguish.

**Author's Note:**

> A prompt from [Panic_at_the_everywhere](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Panic_at_the_everywhere/pseuds/Panic_at_the_everywhere) from [HiddenDreamer67](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HiddenDreamer67/pseuds/HiddenDreamer67)'s [October Giant/Tiny Prompt List](https://davidthetraveler.tumblr.com/post/188288684473/arc852-hiddendreamer67-yup-i-made-a-prompt).
> 
> Thanks for reading. Feel free to leave a kudo or comment, or even come over and talk to me on [Tumblr](https://davidthetraveler.tumblr.com/).


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